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@Jim D. Thanks. I was just wondering how you do it since I know you think things through. There is a limit to how much to worry about!

@Kerry Beal Thanks! I did read through that but got lost in the wire gauge vs. inches vs mm not all of which seemed to agree with each other!

Thanks @Jim D.. I understand that when you're making a two layer ganache you put the 3/8" on the bottom since you'll be spreading your untempered chocolate there. By using the larger ruler on the bottom, you ensure that your finished product has equal thicknesses of the two different flavors. When you're making a 1/2" ganache, are you concerned that using an untempered foot at the base of your ganache leaves you with a ganache layer that is less that 1/2"? I'm finding that stainless steel bars are pretty pricey, hoping to buy the right ones the first time!

Thanks @pastrygirl for this video. My new/used guitar needs to be fully restrung so I appreciate the tutorial, it does still work. I'm going to pick up some wire and replacement bolts from TCF Sales. Some of the nuts vibrated off during shipping so I lost a few of those. TCF sells wire at .5 mm x 60 M .6 mm x 60 M .8 mm x 60 M After reading here I'm wondering if I'm better off purchasing a slightly thicker wire, 0.6mm? Standard is 0.5mm. Right now I'm only planning on cutting ganache and meltaways, but since I'm new at this who knows... Do you all use standard 0.5mm wire? Any reason to not use a thicker wire?

@Elle Bee That's a lot of hand dipping! Currently I use these square candy silicone moulds from chef rubber for making my caramels. By volume they are pretty close to yours, but might a less expensive option than a cutter? I have two and scaled my recipe to just fit. they Sounds like I'll need to be careful if I try cutting caramels on a guitar. May just stick with the caramel moulds. I looked into a caramel cutter as well. The commercial ones are so expensive so also thought about making my own but only got part way down that path. Was the one you made similar to this one?

@Elle Bee Thanks so much for sharing your experience here. I too have really appreciated the people who've posted and whose knowledge has helped me figure out many things. I've got my own used guitar en route to me thanks to pastrygirl. I too am a mostly Christmas season chocolatier without much formal training. Would you mind answering a few question for me? What are you using to frame your confections before you cut them? Do you use caramel rulers? Are you hand dipping all these once they are cut? Are you using your guitar to cut your caramel?

Consider your enabling successful. I've got that guitar from Maine on the way to me! Thanks for pointing me in that direction. Can't wait to try it out!.

I have limited experience but from what I’ve read I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.

Hadn't even thought of that! Thanks for mentioning it.

Savy Goiseau, It's a Savy Goiseau AS Pro The 45 mm frame is threaded every other nut. So I think it's actually configured to cut 90. Just asked.

@pastrygirl@Kerry Beal Thanks for your input and pics. I appreciate the food for thought. I communicated with the Etsy seller. He cautioned me that his is not a professional grade tool. He has plans to develop one in the future but hasn't yet. Being patient to find a used professional grade guitar sounds like a better plan than buying a new piece of equipment that will likely limit what I can do with it. I did join the FB group for equipment. The guitar in Las Vegas is sold. The one in Maine looks like it's in good condition. It's a brand I hadn't heard of before, but upon researching, it looks like a reputable brand. It's biggest issue is the frame sizes - 30, 45, 82.5 - most bigger than what I would choose. The 30 is good, but I'd be interested in 22.5 and 15. Have any of you reworked a frame adding holes, bolts and wires? Seems that buying new frames if the used one doesn't have the ones you need defeats the purpose of saving money buying used.

This helps explain the stand alone tables they can be sold with. Current versions don’t look very heavy (if inconvenient) to move around.

@pastrygirlThanks for the tip on a used one. I requested to join the group. Looks like there are two, one in Maine and one in Las Vegas. Not sure the frame sizes work so I’d have to buy more frames… I also sent a message to the seller on Etsy. Agreed that in the video the frame doesn’t seem to clear but the customer images suggest that it does clear. I’ll ask more when he responds. I noticed that the Etsy unit isn’t as deep as the Dedy either. One reason deeper might be better is that the less parallel the wire is to the base because of a deeper axis the less ganache is getting cut at the same time providing an easier cut. Not sure how much difference it would make though.

I did read through this thread and saw where someone had made their own guitar. I do have handy engineers in my house, but don't really want to consider that route! For clearance there is a video on this item webpage that shows a video of at least part of how it works. More helpful might be the customer images that have been uploaded with the reviews. Yes, he sells all the individual frames as well. Took me a bit to decipher all of what he has: Bases sized 24cm, 30cm and 38cm with base spacing intervals at 7.5mm or 10mm and frames of 7.5mm, 15, 22.5, 30, 37.5+ and 10mm, 20, 30, 40+ (plus similar bases in inches, 9" and 12" with frame sizes in 1/2" increments) Each frame set includes: -Pick up Tray: 30x30cm -Spatula: 3x25cm -Spare Parts Kit: tension screw+Nut+wire(3pcs.), extra wire(7pcs) I'm inclined to give it a try. Not sure I'd ever buy a Dedy guitar at retail and used ones are few and far between. For now it's a serious hobby - starting the Ecole Chocolat Professional Chocolatier course in a couple weeks to explore a bit more.

I'm considering the 30cm base, 7.5mm spacing with frames for 15mm, 22.5mm and 30mm. I'm interesting in uniformly cutting meltaways. I've also been wanting to try a double layers ganache squares for hand dipping. I'm interested in his confectionery frames that are also 1/3 to 1/4 what I'm seeing at TCF Sales.

I’ve been considering getting a guitar cutter for ganaches. I found this one on Etsy from someone in Ukraine selling confectionery tools. It’s a good price when compared to the Dedy and customers seem happy even though ship time is long. For those of you who have a guitar cutter, how does this seem to compare to what you have? https://www.etsy.com/shop/IMOSUA?ref=related&from_page=listing&listing_id=1173031323#items

When talking about the temperature element of tempering chocolate Greweling mentions that after the chocolate is heated to above the temperature where all crystals are melted out, it's the "reality of tempering" (as I understand it the need to use the chocolate in the near future) that "in order to form crystals relatively quickly, the chocolate is usually cooled to well below 32C/90F during seeding." This lowering of temperature speeds up the formation of all crystals, then raising the temperature back to 32C/90F ensures that only the type V crystals remain, and more of them because the chocolate was cooled down. He seems to suggest that while it's not practical to go from all crystals melted out chocolate (or cocoa butter) directly to chocolate in temper at 32C/90F, it is time that is the limiter, not that the crystals won't ever form. Perhaps the residence time or the time that cocoa butter spends at the proper temperature for crystal formation during tempering is much shorter going from solid room temp. to being held 33.1C than the time to for those same crystals to form when going from liquid cocoa butter to held at 33.1C? @Kerry BealIt sounds like you're saying that coming down from liquid that the crystals will never form if held at 33.1C. but maybe it's just impractical because they'll take too long to form?

@Kerry Beal What would happen if you put fully melted 60C cocoa butter in the eztemper set at 33.1C? Wouldn’t the type V crystals form at that temperature?

@Haley What kind of wine fridge are you using? Does it specifically have humidity control as a feature?

Made some new recipes for a fundraising auction last week. Really happy with how they turned out. Purple Dome: Pecan Caramel Popcorn (Maple Pecan Praline (Notter) w/ a commercially prepared piece of caramel popcorn in side.) Just thought it would be fun to try. It took some time to find small fully covered pieces of popcorn to fit in the mold, but it worked. Square - Chocolate Caramel (Greweling.) Dark Stripes - Sesame Ginger (Greweling at home, recipe modified from truffle to molded chocolate). This is the first time I've made a more savory filling. I only used half the ginger because I thought it would be too strong. While it was the first day it mellowed considerably by day two. Would use the full amount next time. I used the mini massage gun from this discussion to help tap out the bubbles, but should have used it more because the milk chocolate didn't settle all the way in. Another issue is that some of the dark stripes came out of temper Balls - Hazelnut Truffles (Greweling at home, added crushed croquantine to the outside.) Also the first time I've made anything with praline paste. I got some because I see it talked about here a lot and wanted to try it. Then when I got it, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Finally settled on these truffles. Adding the croqantine on the outside created some fun texture.

I also purchased the FitRX Mini Massage gun. I don't live near a Big5, but found it at Walmart for delivery . Used it this past week and loved it. Like Kerry said, it's so much quieter and works well. I used it for molded chocolates, hemispheres and domes. Also appreciated using it after capping the molds. Not only does it get the bubbles out, but it smooths the bottoms at the same time. Thanks @Kerry Beal for the idea!

Do you worry about the humidity since the wine cooler isn't humidity controlled?

How do you use your wine/chocolate cooler?

I have also made the chocolate version. Love them!